CHAPTER III.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 24, 26 February 1881, Page 245

CHAPTER 111.

The coroner's inquest Avas adjourned; and the examination before the magistrate ended in a remand • Mrs. Zebedee being in no condition to understand the proceedings in either case. The surgeon reported ncr to be completely prostrated by a terrible nervous shock. When he Avas asked if he considered her to have been asancAVoman, before the murder took place, he refused to ansAver positively at that time A Aveek passed. The murdered man Avas buried ; his old father attending the funeral. I occasionally saAV Mrs. Crosscapel, ancl the tAvo servants, for the purpose of getting such further information as Avas thought desirable. Both the cook ancl the housemaid had given their month's notice to quit ; declining in the interest of their characters, to remain in a house Avhich had been the scene of a murder. Mr Deluc's nerves led also to his removal • his rest Avas iioav disturbed by frightful dreams. He paid the necessary forfeit-money, ancl left Avithout notice. The first floor lodger, Mr. Barfield kept his rooms, but obtained leave of absence from his employers, and took refuge Avith some friends in the country. Miss Mybus alone remained in the parlors. "When lam comfortable," the old lady said, "nothing moves me, at my age. A murder up tAvo pair of stairs is nearly the same thing as a murder in the next house. Distance, you see, makes all the difference." It mattered little to the police Avhat the lodgers click We had men in plain clothes, Avatching the house night and day. Everybody avlio Avent aAvay Avas privately folloAved ; and the police in the district to AA'hich they retired Avere instructed to keep an eye on them after that. As long as Aye failed to put Mrs. Zebedee's extraordinary statement to any sort test — to say nothing of having proved unsuccessful, thus far, in tracing the knife to its purchaser — Aye Avere bound to let no person, living under Mrs. Crosscapel's roof on the night of the murder, slip through our fingers.